Arran: Scotland in Miniature

in News by Simon — July 27, 2008 at 4:18 pm | 0 comments

With dolphins off the starboard bow, Arran suddenly looms through the clearing cloud and mist, the flanks of Goatfell shining bright and green as the sunlight finds its way through. I’ve just spent a weekend up in Lochaber for the summer solstice and I’m now heading over to Arran for a weeks wild camping. The weather over the weekend has been dreadful and the coming week doesn’t look to be any better; the clearing skies give me hope that I might stay at least a little dry. As the boat nears Brodick the skies clear further and as I set foot on the island for the first time it is positively sunny and warm … for about half an hour. I walk through Brodick and take shelter under a tree as the worst of the rain passes and then continue on my way north along the coast. They say the Arran is “Scotland in miniature” and the weather is no exception to this; as I reach Merkland Wood the sun is shining bright again and I decide to detour through the woods. Merkland Wood is a mixed broad leaf deciduous wood that has recently been rescued from the ravages of rhododendron. Part of the regeneration of the wood has involved the creation of trails along which can be found the sculptures of Tim Pomeroy. I suspect that Merkland Wood would be spectacular in the autumn as the leaves create an explosion of colour overhead and under foot.

The major purpose of this week was to take photographs and as I hear the sound of running water I decide that I need to take every opportunity that I can. The river that runs through the wood (and which shares its name) would have been inaccessible in many more places before the removal of the rhododendrons; if only something could be done about the midges too. The Highland midge, Culicoides impunctatus, is just one of the 37 species of midges in the UK, but it is the best known of them. Individually they are tiny, almost insignificant, but together they can form a cloud of swarming, biting, itching distraction capable of defeating the hardiest outdoors person. Insect repellent and a head net still left me distracted enough to make mistakes while taking this image of Merkland River.

Eventually, driven off by the now voluminous clouds of midges, I passed on through the woods and returned to the road and resumed my northerly course. Pirate’s Cove is marked on the OS map of Arran, but I can’t find any history to suggest how it got its name. The interesting thing about it is the rocks – worn sandstone creates interesting patterns while round stones (dropped there by glaciers) provide a strange and contrasting relief. There was clear potential for a sunrise image here and the weather forecast for the next day was good, all I had to do was find somewhere to camp … before I got really wet with the rain that had returned with a vengeance. Up at 3:30am the next morning the pre-dawn light was soft and the moonlight played gently across the calm sea. Aghh, so many shapes and lines and interesting compositions as the sun rose above the horizon.

After a midge infested breakfast I retraced my steps back through Merkland Wood and behind Brodick Castle to visit Arran Active where the very helpful shopkeeper who sold me a map and tick tweezers. She also very kindly checked up on the weather forecast for me, which unfortunately appeared to be a very mixed bag. Arran Active is next to the Arran Brewery, who produce really excellent beer – they recently closed down for a while, but after finding a new owner they are back in production. The brewery was still closed when I was there, just another excuse to go back to the island! I can’t recommend their beer highly enough (especially if you manage to pick up some of the locally produced cheese to go with it).

The bus service on Arran is reasonably good considering the size of the island, but it can be a little challenging to understand the timetables. The key points to remember if you are visiting are as follows. The most frequent service runs from Brodick through Lamlash to Whiting Bay. You might think (like myself and a number of other people on the bus) that you are on a service that goes right round to Blackwaterfoot. Top tip – ask the driver, even if the timetable appears to suggest that the bus goes all the way round. The other thing to know is that the buses that go right round the south end of the island are the ones that meet the arriving ferries at Brodick. The buses round the north (and lesser inhabited) end of the island are infrequent. I suppose it it worth discussing the geology of the island a bit more at this point. Perhaps the most obvious reason for the south end of the island being the more inhabited end is due to the relatively low lying nature of the south of the island. This is in stark contrast to the north end, which is much more mountainous.

Arran is the seventh largest Scottish island and sits in the Firth of Clyde. Like all Scottish Islands, Arran was at one point under Viking control and many of the place names (for example, Goatfell) are of Viking origin. The island has been inhabited for much longer than this and is positively littered with neolithic stone circles and standing stones such as those on Machrie Moor. There are many stone circles in this area that were burial sites, but the main standing stones on Machrie Moor are made of different stone

and design and were probably of ceremonial use. The moor is a wonderfully peaceful place and in the lowering sun I was able to stand and watch barn owls hunting at very close quarters. I have no photographs of these beautiful birds as my camera was sitting on my tripod waiting for the sun to set further. I’m glad I made the most of this day, as the next few days were very wet and I have very little to say about them. I had planned to walk up Glen Rosa and across The Saddle to Glen Sannox to catch the sunrise, but the weather successfully intervened. I did manage a short walk up Glen Rosa and saw enough to make me want to go back and complete the walk. I did manage to walk up the 874m up Goatfell (complete with my 20kg pack, not something I want to repeat too often) and was rewarded with spectacular views of thesurrounding peaks, the south end of the island and further afield across the Firth of Clyde, the Irish Sea and over to Kintyre. After spending at least an hour and a half of splendid solitude (except for a a raven that seemed interested in what I was eating) I decided the wind was too strong

(and gusty) to cross the Stachach ridge and descend in to the saddle and I retraced my steps to Brodick.

The next few days were back to the variable weather conditions and I spent these up in Lochranza at the very north end of the island. Arran is a really beautiful island which I have only scratched the surface of. I’ll definitely be returning to investigate and explore the place in more detail.

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